Custom Photo Magnets: The Complete Guide

If you've never ordered a custom photo magnet before, the process is much simpler than most people expect. You provide a photograph. We help you make sure it will look the way you want it to look at 3.5 inches round. That is essentially the whole story.

This is the complete guide: what to send, what a proof looks like, how many to order, what it costs in time, and how to think about which photograph deserves to become a keepsake. Every other magnet article on this site links back here.

Sizes and what they're for

Our standard magnet is 3.5 inches round — big enough that faces read clearly from across a kitchen, small enough to belong on a refrigerator door without taking it over. That single size covers the overwhelming majority of orders.

• 3.5″ round — the standard. Faces, couples, group shots cropped tight.
• Sets of 4–12 — milestone series, monthly baby photos, reunion favors.
• Squared portrait bases — available when a photo simply will not crop round.

What makes a photo work at 3.5 inches

The single biggest factor is how much of the frame the faces occupy. A photo taken from twenty feet away loses everything when it's cropped to a circle. A photo where faces fill a third of the frame reproduces beautifully.

Phone photos are fine — modern phone cameras exceed what a 3.5-inch print needs. Scans of older prints work too; scan at 600 DPI if you can, and we'll tell you if a file needs re-scanning before it prints.

• Faces should fill a meaningful part of the frame.
• Avoid heavy screenshots, social-media downloads, and texted copies — they're compressed.
• Send the original file, not a re-shared version.

Proofs, revisions, and turnaround

We design every proof by hand and respond to inquiries within 3 business days. You get up to 2 free revisions — nothing prints until you approve it. Once your proof is approved, please allow 7–10 business days for production and shipping.

Where to go next

If you're deciding between formats, read the magnets-versus-framed-prints comparison or the buttons-versus-magnets guide. If you're buying for a specific occasion — a wedding, a graduation, a reunion, a memorial, a first day of school — the occasion articles below pick up where this guide leaves off.

How a 3.5-inch photo magnet becomes part of the story

Our custom photo magnets are professionally produced as 3.5-inch round keepsakes. They are big enough to actually see the faces in the picture, but small enough to belong on the refrigerator, the filing cabinet at work, or the side of a metal lamp in grandma's bedroom.

You provide the photograph. We help you make sure the resolution, the crop, and the framing honor the moment. Most people send us a phone photo or a scan of an older print, and we walk them through the rest. The keepsake itself does the work after that — quietly, every day, for years.

Moments that whisper are worth remembering. Because moments fade. Love doesn't.

How to start

Email tsocustomkeepsakes@gmail.com with a short note about the photograph you want to preserve and the moment behind it. We'll respond with simple next steps — how to send the image, a brief design questionnaire, and information about custom order options.

There is no shopping cart and no checkout. Every keepsake we make begins with a conversation, because every keepsake we make is built around a story.